"All children are gifted.
Some just open their presents later than others." ---unknown

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Well, I've made it to Hump Day...

God, when is this week gonna end!? The week before Christmas break is always rough, but as you all know, everything is rougher than usual this year. Indulge me a moment while I bitch about my parents....

In the newsletter Monday, I asked the parents to please send a $1.00 grab-bag gift for Friday. I asked that they be gender-specific, so the girls can exchange with the girls, boys with boys. OK, not too difficult, right? WRONG! Tuesday morning I asked if anyone had brought a grab-bag gift, nobody did. Today, I had THREE people give me a dollar!!! Two were kids, so I couldn't really do much about it. The other, though, was the uncle of my newest girl. I explained to him that he was supposed to just buy a gift for a dollar and send it by Friday, but he kept insisting I just take the dollar. I facetiously asked if he just wanted me to stick it in an envelope for the grab-bag, and he said YES!! AUGH!! I put the three dollars in my purse and planned to stop at the Dollar Store after school.

Flash forward (past the stressful, aggravating day!) to 2:45, dismissal time. One of my moms walks up to me and holds out a toy. I just look at her. She keeps looking at me like, "Take it, Fool!" So I say, "Is that for the grab-bag?" to which she naturally replies, "Yes." So I say, "Well, gee, did you want me to wrap it?!" And she says, "I would greatly appreciate it." OK, count to ten.... Luckily, she's one of my moms that I can be straight forward with, and I told her she's just damn lucky that I like her! I grabbed a sheet of paper out of my printer, wrapped the toy, then got my markers and drew a Christmas tree topped with a star on the the paper. Good enough, huh? I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Tomorrow is the assembly. I can't wait to see how many of my parents are going to show up late and miss us perform. The show is supposed to start at 1:00, and I plan to have my kids on that stage at 12:55, ready to sing. I'm still debating whether I'm going to let the kids stay and watch the rest of the classes perform, or if we're just going to go back to the room. I could let them watch a Christmas movie. I'm just going to play it by ear, I guess.

If we are not peaceful, if we are not feeling well in our skin, we cannot demonstrate real peace, and we cannot raise our children well either. ---ThichNhatHanh

Could this be why my class has been acting so crazed lately? Because their teacher is not peaceful? OK, I'll accept a small fraction of responsibility, but I think it probably has more to do with the lack of peace within their homes. Before I start feeling depressed about it all, I'll just say good night. Good night.